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CYBERSPACE VANGUARD / This item is <abridged>.

From: [e-mail] (Cyberspace Vanguard Magazine)
Newsgroups: alt.zines
Subject: Cyberspace Vanguard 1:1 (r1)
Date: 10 Jan 1993 18:16:01 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Lines: 1363
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Cyberspace Vanguard Magazine)

Copyright 1992, Vanguard Productions

WELCOME to the first issue of CYBERSPACE VANGUARD!

     Despite the name, CV is NOT a magazine about or in any
way related to cyberpunk, except that cyberpunk falls under
the heading of science fiction.  We chose the name simply
because "cyberspace" is quickly becoming the 90's word for
the world of electronic communications.  CV will cover pretty
much anything that's of interest to the science fiction
community, regardless of what it is.  We're open to
submissions from anyone, regardless of experience.  The
writing is judged SOLELY on its quality.

     For writers' guidelines, write to
[e-mail] or, for those of you who prefer
to communicate on paper, you can write to us at:

                         Cyberspace Vanguard
                         PO Box 25704
                         Garfield Heights, OH 44125
                         USA

     But enough about that.  This month we've brought you
interviews with Jeff Kaake of SPACE RANGERS, Peter Donat of
the upcoming show TIME TRAX, J. Michael Straczynski, creator
of BABYLON 5, and Eric Radomski, producer of BATMAN: THE
ANIMATED SERIES.  (What can we say, it's a big month for TV!)
We've also brought you, in the words of one of our readers,
"more news than hours of net surfing."
     All this is just the beginning.  We need YOUR input to
help make Cyberspace Vanguard THE source of science fiction
news.  Tell us what you like about it, what you hate about
it, but most of all, what you think would improve it.  So
that we don't wind up with scores of copies of the magazine
inadvertently quoted back to our mailbox, we've posted an
electronic reply card immediately after this post.
     Oh, and a note to other editors:  CV is registered with
the United States Copyright Office.  We don't mind you
quoting us, but we must insist on credit being given.  All
rights revert to the author upon publication.  You may repost
CV IN ITS ENTIRETY, but we'd like to know where so we know
who's seeing it.  (People keep asking us, and it's so hard to
explain ...)
     So here goes ...

-------------------------------------------------------------
                        Table of Contents

--!1!-- Jeff Kaake on SPACE RANGERS
--!2!-- Peter Donat on TIME TRAX
--!3!-- Eric Radomski on BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES
--!4!-- J. Michael Straczynski on BABYLON 5
--!5!-- Just what is MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 anyway?
--!6!-- Globalhead, by Bruce Sterling -- review
--!7!-- All the news that's fit to transmit
--!8!-- Spoilers ahoy!
--!9!-- Opportunity knocks
--!10!-- Subscription information

-------------------------------------------------------------

--!1!-- Jeff Kaake

   THE RANGERS RIDE AGAIN:  JEFF KAAKE FINDS HIS NICHE
                   ON SPACE RANGERS

[NOTE:  SPACE RANGERS premieres January 6 at 8pm on CBS]

     Either Jeff Kaake is a genuinely nice person, or SPACE
RANGERS has gotten itself a better actor for the lead role
than any show has a right to have.  Personally, I'll lean
towards the former.  Speaking to CV by telephone on the eve
of SPACE RANGERS' television debut, he had a vulnerability to
him, one that bordered on naivete'.  "I think the guy is very
sincere, which is, well, I don't know if it's my stronger or
weaker trait.  He IS fairly naive, which I have been accused
of being for a lot of years, though I don't think of myself
as being that way."  After all, how can a person possibly
stay naive in Hollywood?  "That's my answer.  I hope it's a
good quality to have a little naivete.  It's very hard to
stay naive in this industry because it's so brutal, but I've
always managed to make a decent living at it and it's been
pretty good to me.  I hope it gets nothing but better."
     But, joking aside, that naivete' is just one of the
things that Jeff Kaake has in common with the character he
plays on the show, Captain John Boon.  Boon and the rest of
his crew are basically futuristic policeman who are, as is
explained in the first episode, "misfits with an imagina-
tion."  Many light years from Central, they must rely
on their wits, orders or not. Linda Hunt plays Commander
Chennalt, who sends Boon and his five member team out on
missions from their home base, Fort Hope, on the planet
Avalon.  It calls for a leader who is not just resourceful,
but "human," in the best sense of the word.  "Outside of the
obvious fact that he's a hero, he's a well rounded, whole
person.  He's not one-sided at all.  He's VERY human, not the
perfect stereotype of a hero.  He has good days and bad days
but at the same time he's a bit of a hotshot.  He's even got
a family.  He's just a whole person.  A lot of the other
characters I've played have been semi-one dimensional, which
I'm sure is partly my fault, and partly the writing, and
everything else.  But this guy just kind of clicked for me."
     And it would seem that he's got his work cut out for
him. The Space Rangers are charged with keeping the peace on
the frontier in the year 2105. "The Space Rangers are cops
who are sort of a combination of Marines and peace keepers.
I've said in past interviews that this is kind of reminiscent
of the old Texas Rangers,  but obviously we've got a new
frontier. So we're out there exploring the furthest reaches
of the galaxy and trying to tame all the species that we come
across and get them to intermingle as a society out there in
space.  Our jobs vary from episode to episode depending on
what the mission might be that week.  A lot of rescue stuff.
There's even drug smuggling in the year 2105.  So there's a
wide range of things to get into."
     So, are these the United States Space Rangers, or does
this universe sport the traditional "world government"?
"It's definitely Earth-born, I'm sure.  We've now set up
stations, what we call Central which is well established as
to what part of the galaxy that controls. Those are the
people we answer to and sometimes refuse to answer to, and
that's so many light years away from our home planet.
There's no technical reference as to how far away Avalon is,
but it's the furthest reaches of the galaxy.  It's a very
military structure and the conflict with us as Space Rangers
is that when you're out in space, so many light years away
from what we know as civilization it's not black and white,
you don't necessarily follow all orders 100%.  That's one of
the qualities of a Space Ranger.  You've got to be flexible
and make decisions based on spur of the moment things that
come up.  So it's not a typical military kind of thing.
We're renegades of the military, I would say."
     And the crew?  "There's five of us actually in the sling
ship itself, which is my crew.  They've chosen to serve under
John Boon because he's got a reputation as a man of his own.
He does things his way, but he always winds up getting the
job done.  John Boon's the guy that when nobody else will
take the mission, he'll take it. These guys have all chosen
to serve under me.  It's not like they've been assigned to
me.  It's kind of like they've been hand picked.  We haven't
gotten into other Space Rangers but it's inferred that this
is a large command center and the Space Rangers as a unit are
to be dispatched from there."
     It's a look that has been described as "Aliens gone
television."  He says that the production values are quite
impressive.  "It's got a great look.  These guys have
obviously come from a very strong film background.  It's real
blue-collar, real gritty, dirty, lived in, if something
breaks you fix it, you don't replace it.  It's what you'd
imagine being 10000 light years out and not being able to go
to the hardware store."
     The attentive reader will notice his use of pronouns. In
a field where many actors go out of their way to distance
themselves from their roles, Mr. Kaake doesn't seem too
concerned about it. "I don't know how other actors feel, but
there's a lot of Jeff Kaake in John Boon, and I'm sure that
there are traits of John Boon in Jeff Kaake.  So it's just
kind of an intermeshing of the two. It's really a jumbled up
combination.  You can't help but bring part of yourself into
it.  I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't worry [about
typecasting if the show takes off.]  It's just something that
as an actor you really don't have any control over.  It's
like a big roller coaster ride.  Once you're strapped in,
you're in for the duration.  So yeah, it's a concern.  I
certianly wouldn't want this to be it as far as roles are
concerned, but you've just got to take these things as they
come.  I mean, gee, what at pity it would be if the show ran
for five or seven years," he jokes.  "That'll just be a
challenge, and I'm sure I'll overcome it someday."
     And if it does run for five years, how does he think
he'll live with the intense schedule of working on a series,
where the days are seldom, if ever, less than 12 hours long?
"I've asked myself that question.  I can't imagine having a
family and existing in this business, watching your children
grow up. It's a grind.  It's a minimum of 12 hours a day,
five days a week, and if you figure 3 to 5 years, or even
longer.  There are people who go from series to series and
they have kids, and wives.  I just don't know how they keep
it all together.  It's not a healthy business in a lot of
respects -- the hours, getting off on bad eating habits
because there's always food around ... there's a lot of down
time.  There's a lot of standing around.  Basically what you
have to do is set up an office wherever your working no matter
how difficult that may be and run your business and pay your bills,
run your life when you're not actually on set shooting.
     "I look forward to [having a family], but I'm not in any
hurry to do it.  I get my dose when my five year old nephew
comes up.  My girlfriend and I spend a weekend a month with
him.  We love him dearly, but it's nice when the house is
quiet again.  We're part-time parents. I'm sure that in some
way that I'm not aware of he's affected my life as greatly as
I think I've affected his.  I think that any time you're
exposed to children they bring out some of the vulnerable
things that are hidden, stowed away for years, and then you find
yourself opening up to these young, innocent little creatures."
     Although it's being billed as a sort of "Top Gun in
space," Mr. Kaake says that there's a heavy emphasis on plot
and character development.  "Honestly, in every show they've
managed to squeeze in all of the above. There's no one that's
like the others.  They all seem to have a real driving force
to them and it's really interesting.  The writers are unique.
They're all family man, family oriented, and there's a moral
story behind every show.  There's always got to be a reason
to have an episode.  They've managed to find it, and
hopefully we're going to maintain that equation."  Planned
shows include the pilot, in which the Rangers are threatened
with replacement by experimental 'droids, intermingling of
species, drug smuggling, and of course, rescues.  There is
also an episode dealing with prejudices that have survived
into the 22nd century.
     Plus, "there are definitely reccuring characters.  They
did just an excellent job of casting for our alien creatures
and they recur.  In just the 6 episodes I can think of 3
characters that recur because the actors behind this crazy
makeup that they put on are just so stong. They've really
searched high and low to find these cast members, both for
the regular cast and the guest stars, and their quality is
quite high."
     Produced by Trilogy Entertainment (the people who
brought you BACKDRAFT and ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES), the
show is pretty well unique in television in at least one
respect.  The trio of Pen Densham, Richard B. Lewis and John
Watson have, over the years, found a way to work around the
enormous costs of producing a 1 hour science fiction
television show: overseas sales.  While most programs are
sold overseas years after they have aired here in the United
States (the British apparently awaited episodes of DYNASTY as
eagerly as we waited for DOCTOR WHO), SPACE RANGERS has
already been sold to foreign markets.  "There are six shows,
all finished, all bought and paid for, which is kind of a new
thing for 1 hr. television."  Eight more scripts have been
ordered by CBS.  "What they've done is they've sold them
overseas, so they're all bought and paid for prior to even
making them.  That's unusual, and possibily more attractive
to networks.  It's an expensive endeavor, which is why one
hour television has gotten in trouble at times."
     And at $1,300,000 to $1,400,000 per episode, that kind
of demand had better exist somewhere.
     No matter what happens, though, Mr. Kaake says he can't
complain.  What convinced him to give up a secure future with
his father in the auto industry?  "A year and a half in the
auto industry.  My father was a good provider, but I just
didn't have it in me to be a factory rat.  I had big dreams,
and they were squelched for a long time.  I realized that if
I didn't make the move I was going to be doing that for the
rest of my life.  I think you've just got to be happy with
what you do.  Because you're reacting to something that
doesn't exist [for the bluescreen shots] you never really
walk away completely confident with your work, but I'm in
this for a lifetime as far as I'm concerned.  This is just
one step for me, but I've never had so much fun as I've had
filming this project."

... <abridged>

--!7!-- And now, the news

            ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO TRANSMIT

Amblin About

     Paramount has signed Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy
to a production deal.  They met during the production of
RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and founded Amblin Entertainment with
Steven Speilberg in 1981, though Marshall left Amblin in
1991.
     The pair, who have been responsible for a slew of genre
movies, such as ET, BACK TO THE FUTURE, HOOK, ARACHNOPHOBIA
and of course the INDIANA JONES movies, agreed to a
non-exclusive pact that states they give Paramount first dibs
on their projects, and will be based on the Paramount lot.
     Kathleen Kennedy is currenly producing Steven
Spielberg's JURASSIC PARK.

--!--

And speaking of JURASSIC PARK ...

     When Michael Crichton wrote JURASSIC PARK, a book about
dinosaurs genetically grown from ancient DNA in order to be
the basis for a theme park, the made the velociraptors six
feet tall, in accordance with the fossils that had been
found.  Since these are the most vicious of the reptilian
beasts, however, Steven Speilberg defied his paleontologist
advisors and made them much larger for dramatic effect.
     Well, according to the January, 1993 issue of DISCOVER
magazine, he gets the last laugh with the discovery in Utah
of a 20 foot long, 1500 pound velociraptor. Nicknamed
"Speilberg's raptor," it will more likely go down in the
books as Utahraptor.

... <abridged>

--!--

European Box office:  According to Daily Variety,, BEAUTY AND
THE BEAST took in $11.2 million at 1241 European screens
during the week of December 12 - 18, clinching the top spot.
The closest competitor was HOME ALONE 2.  DEATH BECOMES HER
was fifth, with $1.83 million at 251 screens.

... <abridged>

--!9!-- Correspondents

                    OPPORTUNITY KNOCKING

     You say you don't want to write but you still want to be
a part of CYBERSPACE VANGUARD?  You're in luck.  We couldn't
possibly watch every newsgroup and conference on every
network out there -- believe me, we tried!   So what we need
is a group of dedicated people to watch the newsgroups for us
and report on any news or spoilers that turn up.  If you want
to be a Cyberspace Correspondent, send a list of the
newsgroups you read CONSISTENTLY to

          [e-mail] (Internet)
          TJ Goldstein@1:157/564 (Fidonet) or
          TJ Goldstein@40:204/564 (AmigaNet)

     If you're reading this on a network that doesn't support
these mail systems, you can send a letter with the list and
your e-mail address to

               Correspondent
               Cyberspace Vanguard
               PO Box 25704
               Garfield Heights, OH 44125
               USA

     We are also looking for writers, of course.  If you have
an idea you think would be right for us, drop us a line!

--!10!-- Subs

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION:  CV is available on various
newsgroups, or you can ask to be put on our mailing list.  If
you're really interested, though, you can subscribe to the
PAPER version of the magazine.  It includes all the
first-rate photos and cartoons that we can't put into the
electronic version.  Rates in the United States are $2.00 per issue,
or $10.50 for six.  Write to us for overseas rates.


--
                     CYBERSPACE VANGUARD MAGAZINE
           News and Views from the Science Fiction Universe
TJ Goldstein, Editor      |   Send submissions, questions, comments to
  [e-mail]        |         [e-mail]